SPQR guide : How to survive the first fifteen turns.

[lagicity]

Now onto the 3 spartan armies, those are going to be a bi tch > had those 3 spartan units surrounded by 9 units, and they just refused to rout (does anybody know if the the spartan units, historically speaking, ever routed even once?)

To kill Spartans, target your Velites on them, like against elephants. Velites are more effective at killing heavily armoured men than Slingers, so when I invaded Greece, I just had Velites as my missle units. Try using your Triarii to fight against them, from my experience, they fair better than Hastati or Princepes, and using Equites will be suicide, so save them for backstabbing the Hoplites.

Historically speaking, in the Battle of Thermopalye (don't know spelling), I don't think a Spartan routed even though they were fighting against a lot of bad guys. You can refer to the movie 300 for the story (don't know if it's accurate though).

Hope it helps

[lt1956]

Movie is not accurate except they all died and none retreated. A better movie is called 300 Spartans, you get a more accurate view of what happened though it also is not completely accurate.

Movie
http://www.amazon.com/300-Spartans-R...1924530&sr=1-1

Documentary
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-300...1924594&sr=1-3

[Legio IX]

Movie is not accurate except they all died and none retreated. A better movie is called 300 Spartans, you get a more accurate view of what happened though it also is not completely accurate.

Movie
http://www.amazon.com/300-Spartans-R...1924530&sr=1-1

Documentary
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-300...1924594&sr=1-3

A very old movie I have to say My father watched it when he was young Though I agree that it's more accurate then "300" and doesn't have silly stuff like monsters and some ninja dudes...

[chris10]

Rome had 28-32 legions for a reason besides their Alae, that should let you know how much is needed to run an empire about 500,000 men which legions were only about 160,000 men.

In fact 500.000 where far from being enough...some time ago I read a history article estimating that by the time when the big Barbarian Invasions took place the Roman Empire had about 500.000 soldiers defending borders for which they would have needed about 3.000.000 men .

[ARVN81airborne]

Your guide is similar to the way I played at VH/VH setting, except for the battle formation. The most crucial step is building the mine at Arretium (+1250 income) because trading roads and farms dont get income kicked in that fast. For the first turn, I also move Quintus full stack down to Taras to engage Carthage right away, avoiding them sending stacks down to capture Reghion or engage them at unfavored battle ground. Anyway, for Quintus stack, I delete the 1 slingers units and hire 1 Merc Peltasts to help deal with the Elephants. I split the Vibius army in the North to defend 3 settlements there.
Carthage has 2 stacks to defend Taras. I usually destroy 1.5 of their Carthage army during the first 2 battles using Quintus. After that I use Flavius to finish off the remaining Carthage army and capture Taras. Everything is easy after that. It is only difficult if you play defensive in this mod, cause Gaul and German could send stacks after stacks to drain your income out.

Anyway, I have 1 question: Will it ruin the Reform if I build peasants and discharge them at other settlements to increase the population for building the Palace? That's what I do all the time to upgrade to the Imperial Palace. From reading other threads, I get an idea that there is a faster way to get the Marius Reform than the one in the Readme Manual. I played this mod since the first time 7.0 came out and still could not figure out how.


Aso, how many turns it takes you guys to finish your campaign? (Mine is around 125 turns +/-15) Btw, what's wrong If I am Blitzing in this game? It's not like im using cheatcodes or anything... Isn't it a better challenge to finish the campaign as fast as possible then getting bogged down in boredom by the houserule?

[lt1956]

Not really because you should use the Script, You also miss the Civil wars and everything else when you blitz, plus you dont get to fight certain units etc. In the speed your doing the Other factions wouldnt even have an army.

If you used the script you would have Garrisons in the cities which means you would have to Fight for each city and thus is challenging, its not a matter of HOUSE RULES as Blitzing in Vanilla or a Mod is a form of cheating as the AI sucks in RTW.

[Gauliez]

And that is what I learned in my first 7.0 campaign, where I kind of 'blitzed' against my will
I was playing with the script, but often was not letting enough time for it to kick in, or when I was sieging and a very small detachment would try to break the siege, I usually slaughtered every single man of the sieged army and took immediatly the town.

I was progressing way too quickly by doing so and as Lt said, it kind of spoils the fun, at least for me. You also don't get the same feeling of hardly achieved victory as when you leave the AI some time to retaliate back.

Therefore, I added two more houserules of my own to my 8.0 campaign :
- Whenever an army try to break a siege, stop the fight as soon as all ennemies are routing, and do not continue the fight to chase them.
- Don't rush the tactical map by sieging two or more neighbouring towns of the same faction simultaneously. It is too easy that way, as there can be no reinforcement stacks produced by nearby towns.

That way, my campaign 8.0 went at a slower pace, and trust me, I enjoyed much more my campaign against the Gauls. They almost took back one of my settlement, and their stacks are now way more dangerous....

[czePowerslave]

I always siege on large scale front, but then take 10-20 turns to consolidate new grounds and push someplace else.

[Didz]

Nice Guide +rep

[Roninthecow]

Followed the guide as much as i could, but the new stuff from 8.0 changes alot, defeated hannibal and theo, but the gauls just overran everything in the north.. lost genua and arretium too..

[czePowerslave]

Thats ouch. Use mercenaries if you can afford them, use garrisons if you got any spare. I manage always to push Gauls back with jsut 2 legions and extra mercenaries. Especially the heavy cavalry in the early game against unexperienced Gauls is just killing machine.

[Roninthecow]

At turn eight its really had to get 2 legions to the north lol with the budget being atm what it is, but ill try your tips, thanks!

[czePowerslave]

Always build eco buildings first. And if you manage to beat Carthaginians with some but not huge losses, it saves up cash as well.

[Roninthecow]

Battles with carthaginias was well , hannibal was easy, but theo just almost obliterated one of my armies, what was rest was like maybe 900 troops. But with mercenaries, am kinda managing for a bit now.

[czePowerslave]

Use heavy infantry and heavy cavalry mostly. They are best for the cost.

[andriko25]

Not only I took Patavium but I walked like a sheep to the mouth of the wolf. I marched north to Dastardia and I try to hold my defence there on the frozen Alps. I have exterminated 5 armies of Gaul and 6 Germanian and now 5 more Gallic and 3 Germanian are coming and I feel desperate. Any suggestions?

[Domitius10]

If your legion in Durantasia can be retrained, then I don't see much of an issue. There's usually enough time to fight off an army and retrain before another one attacks. You'll need a Provincial Barracks to retrain all manipular infantry. When I took Durantasia, it was well-developed and allowed me to restock the legion I had there. So far it's taken down countless Germanic armies.

Retreating is always a viable tactic when worst comes to worst.

[tanglebones]

When I took Durantasia, it was well-developed and allowed me to restock the legion I had there. So far it's taken down countless Germanic armies.

I'm experiencing the same with the 3 captured Gaul settlements to the North, Genua, Mediolanum and Patavium, they're all now well developed and allow plenty of opportunity to reinforce the 4 legions stationed close by who's job it is to hold back the Gaul tide from the West. I gave up counting the dead long ago, they just keep coming ....

Also because i'm staying put and on the defensive, the coffers are filling up nicely. Slaying Gaul armies and retraining the battle-hardened legions isn't too much of a costly business actually.

On a sidenote: Money i've saved has been spent on 2 fleets and a legion complete with reserves and dispatched to Briton, or what is now modern day Ireland.

The garrison was wipped out using partial reserves and merc units i hired on arrival. Once i have the population under control, which is proving difficult due to the disadvantages of Distance to Capital and Culture Penalties etc, i plan to use the town as a forward base for conquering the rest of Briton .... unhindered by Carthage, Gaul, Greeks or anyone else i'm currently at war with!

[czePowerslave]

I'm experiencing the same with the 3 captured Gaul settlements to the North, Genua, Mediolanum and Patavium, they're all now well developed and allow plenty of opportunity to reinforce the 4 legions stationed close by who's job it is to hold back the Gaul tide from the West. I gave up counting the dead long ago, they just keep coming ....

Also because i'm staying put and on the defensive, the coffers are filling up nicely. Slaying Gaul armies and retraining the battle-hardened legions isn't too much of a costly business actually.

On a sidenote: Money i've saved has been spent on 2 fleets and a legion complete with reserves and dispatched to Briton, or what is now modern day Ireland.

The garrison was wipped out using partial reserves and merc units i hired on arrival. Once i have the population under control, which is proving difficult due to the disadvantages of Distance to Capital and Culture Penalties etc, i plan to use the town as a forward base for conquering the rest of Briton .... unhindered by Carthage, Gaul, Greeks or anyone else i'm currently at war with!

That made my day
Let me write up few comments for you. First I commend you on the bravery of yer actions.
Holding up Gauls by being defensive is not an option. They will not stop coming and while you might feel save with your experienced legions, you never know when they rebel and you are giving your enemy chance to build build and build. Eventually there can assemble Gallic army good enough to wipe your legion. While losing one out of four might not hurt that much, another dozen stacks might prove the idea valid.

The Briton - do not be silly there. I went to Briton with Imperial legions, 4 numbered, 3 auxiliary and 3 town guard. After about five battles I lost like 25% of all my forces, including almost entire numbered legion. But I shall not spoil it for you.
If you want suggestion - gather fighting force of at least 20-30,000 men if you plan to invade Briton. Have plenty of generals and town watches ready to keep the cities at bay.

[tanglebones]

Oh yes i am about to eat humble pie courtesy of the Britons...they're a hardy bunch.

Eblana is seperated from the mainland, so it seemed like an easy target, and it was, but i am really struggling to get public order in the settlement under control - i've had civil unrest there 4 turns in a row! Anyway i've decided to take your advice, do the sensible thing and withdraw, i'll return in force later on in the campaign when Gaul is conquered!

Also i do take your point about my defensive tactics with the Gauls, truth be told my strategy isn't going too well, it's becoming a real mess up there, like an intense game of chess, everyone watching eachothers backs ... i need to push West, but with Germania and the Darcians breathing down my neck, i don't want to be caught on the back foot.

So, plan of attack next; return the two fleets and legion i sent to Eblana, once home, sack the fleets and use the freed cash to employ more legions for the advance on Gaul. I can't fail.